json encode and replacement for JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE - php

Question

Since I cant use JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE because my php is < 5.4, I have tried some replacements from json_encode() manual page:
$final = array (
0 => array (
'id' => 26629,
'content' => 'преди 5 сек'
),
1 => array (
'id' => 26628,
'content' => 'преди 5 сек'
),
2 => array (
'id' => 26627,
'content' => 'преди 5 сек'
)
);
$myDirtyString = json_encode($final);
$myDirtyString = str_replace("\/","/",$myDirtyString);
$myDirtyString = str_replace('"','\\"',$myDirtyString);
echo $myCleanedString = json_decode('"'.$myDirtyString.'"');
And the result is:
[
{"id":"26629","timestamp":"преди 5 сек"},
{"id":"26628","timestamp":"преди 5 сек"},
{"id":"26625","timestamp":"¿Ñеди 5 Ñек"}
]
Why the last item is such a mess?
I tried
header('Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8');
...but still dosent work.

Answer 1

If your on a version of PHP before 5.4, this might help:
<?php
if (!function_exists('json_encode')) {
function json_encode($data) {
switch ($type = gettype($data)) {
case 'NULL':
return 'null';
case 'boolean':
return ($data ? 'true' : 'false');
case 'integer':
case 'double':
case 'float':
return $data;
case 'string':
return '"' . addslashes($data) . '"';
case 'object':
$data = get_object_vars($data);
case 'array':
$output_index_count = 0;
$output_indexed = array();
$output_associative = array();
foreach ($data as $key => $value) {
$output_indexed[] = json_encode($value);
$output_associative[] = json_encode($key) . ':' . json_encode($value);
if ($output_index_count !== NULL && $output_index_count++ !== $key) {
$output_index_count = NULL;
}
}
if ($output_index_count !== NULL) {
return '[' . implode(',', $output_indexed) . ']';
} else {
return '{' . implode(',', $output_associative) . '}';
}
default:
return ''; // Not supported
}
}
}
?>